Bad Decisions
by Contemplating Life
Summary: It's another Ranger Gathering, and Will, Gilan, and Crowley have a few things in mind for Halt.
1. Don't Do It

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Ranger's Apprentice.**

Crowley sighed contentedly as he took another sip of coffee. The Ranger Gathering had just started. Tents were still being pitched, several with coffee made in them, including his, of course. He glared at the pile of paperwork on his desk. Even though it was the Gathering, he still had to do it.

He looked at the paperwork, looked outside his tent, looked at the paperwork, looked outside his tent and saw Halt, and walked outside. "Halt!" Crowley said cheerfully. Halt grunted and peered suspiciously inside of Crowley's cabin.

"Don't talk to me unless you have coffee."

Crowley grinned. "Actually, I just finished my only cup of it."

Halt glared at Crowley, who hastily ran back into his tent for safety. After he was sure Halt had left, he headed back out. "Crowley!" Gilan was waving him over from several yards away. Will was with him. Crowley hesitated, then saw the steaming pot of what was most likely coffee and came over.

Wordlessly, Gilan poured him a cup. Crowley gave his thanks. He frowned as he saw Gilan and Will add a generous amount of honey to their coffee. Will saw the expression and smirked. It was well known amongst the Rangers that Halt and his apprentices put honey in their coffee.

"So, Crowley," Will said. "Gilan and I are-"

"Are what?" Halt interrupted, his threatening gaze daring anyone to continue.

Gilan quickly took over. "Are making coffee!"

Halt raised an eyebrow, and Gilan realized that there was a pot of coffee right in front of him, and they all had a cup in their hand. "I mean, drinking coffee."

Ignoring Gilan, Halt sat down between Crowley and Will. "Will, pour me some coffee."

Will grinned and complied. "So, Halt," he began in a casual tone. "Any plans for this Gathering?"

The older Ranger frowned. His apprentices were not to be trusted during Gatherings. _Ever._

"Scaring apprentices again, probably," Crowley joked. Halt had a reputation for terrifying apprentices during Gatherings.

"Maybe, if they make bad decisions." Will and Gilan exchanged a look. Halt noticed. "Planning something?"

The two Rangers made innocent expressions. "I would never think of such a thing, Halt," Gilan responded, already thinking of ways to annoy Halt.

Will suppressed a smirk. "Neither would I."

Halt glared at them both, making a mental note to stay alert. Crowley stayed silent, knowing that Halt was still annoyed at him from his comment earlier.

...

Gilan and Will snuck out of the tent at midnight. "Don't come back," Halt's muffled voice sounded from inside the tent, causing both Gilan and Will to jump.

"I thought he was asleep," Will whispered to himself.

"I heard that," Halt said.

"Go away," Will whined. He headed towards Crowley's tent, Gilan right behind him. The time had been arranged during dinner, when Halt was sitting alone because he "needed to be around people with more common sense, or better, nobody." Crowley waited expectantly inside.

Gilan and Will sat comfortably next to Crowley. "As we were saying before we were rudely interrupted by Halt, we have an idea."

Crowley grinned. "What kind of plan?" Although he was pretty sure he knew the answer.

"We annoy Halt as much as possible during the Gathering. And, well...suffer the consequences." All three Rangers winced. They had seen Halt when he was angry before. Of course, that wouldn't stop them.

"Is this a competition?" Crowley asked.

Gilan shrugged. "Not really, unless you mean a competition between the three of us and Halt. There are a few rules. You can't do something that will make Halt kill you, you can't team up, and you can't tell Halt that we thought of this together.

Will and Crowley nodded, and Gilan smiled, his smile uncannily similar to Halt's wolf-smile. "I'll go first."


	2. Good Grief, Gilan

**I have views :o**

The last specks of daylight were fading away, and moon slowly rose higher in the sky. Halt observed his former apprentices carefully. They were sitting a viable distance away from Halt close to a fire, chatting in enthusiastic tones and occasionally throwing looks at him.

Throughout the past day, Will, Gilan, and Crowley had been staring at Halt (more than usual) and whispering to each other. Halt, having decided that he no longer felt safe in his tent, had set up his own extra one-man tent that he always brought to Gatherings.

The most questionable thing was that Will and Gilan hadn't complained or joked at all when he had announced his departure. Halt definitely needed to watch out for his shady former apprentices and the equally shady Commandant.

He ran through a list of possible future scenarios and realized that he would need to retaliate and retaliate hard. An injured, moaning, irritating twit was too much of a nuisance to Halt. He would have to find a way to shoot without drawing blood.

Halt went inside his tent. Spending a few moments finding supplies, Halt busied himself capping a good amount of his arrows with soft, thick padding. When he was done, he tested the tips and nodded to himself, satisfied.

"Watch out," he said softly to nobody in particular. His victims wouldn't know what hit them.

...

Arrow after arrow, the three apprentices repeatedly drew, knocked, and shot. The sharp sound of the projectiles thudding into the targets filled the clearing. The morning came with a cool breeze and clear blue sky, which did nothing to improve the ever-grim Ranger.

Halt watched the first-years critically, often making rather harsh remarks ("What are you aiming for? And you, what happened to your bow arm? What are you staring at? Is there something more interesting than the target?"). He seemed unaware that Gilan was crouching several meters away, hidden underneath the folds of his cloak.

With this encouraging thought, Gilan crept closer to the archery range. He was confident in his stealth skills, as many regarded him as the best in the Corps.

He waited for the right moment to strike. It came when Halt's back was turned towards him while he was helping one of the apprentices. He started to move forward and prepared to spring towards Halt, picturing the Ranger falling in front of three apprentices.

 _Thud!_ Gilan jumped. An arrow was buried into the tree he was in front of, several centimeters from his face. _Thud!_ Another arrow came, this time a few centimeters from his throat.

"I wouldn't move if I were you," Halt suggested. Gilan shook his head in disbelief. One moment Halt had been facing away from him, the next he had sent two arrows on their way, another already drawn.

He swallowed. "Halt! I didn't know you were here!"

Halt said nothing for a long moment. "Give me my arrows back." Gilan carefully pulled out the two arrows and handed them to his former mentor. The three apprentices watched fearfully, and some of the other Rangers had assembled to view the scene with a bit of joviality. Ruefully, Gilan realized that Will and Crowley were part of the crowd, their faces revealing no pity.

"Now stand there," Halt ordered, pointing to the center target. "And take the arrows out of it too." Gilan obeyed and shot a withering look at Will and Crowley, who were still all smiles. Will waved and turned towards Crowley, loudly discussing what Gilan's fate might be.

Gilan swore under his breath and directed his attention to Halt, his back pressed against the target. Halt calmly brought up his bow. Gilan willed himself not to flinch as an arrow whooshed past his face, nearly nicking his ear. He knew that if Halt wanted to, the arrow would have nicked his ear.

Halt sent two more arrows on their way. Gilan retained a calm expression, though his heart was pounding. Halt scowled at the three arrows. "I missed. What a shame." A chorus of laughter erupted from the audience.

Gilan glared at Halt but stayed where he was. The next arrow came flying directly towards him. The arrow hit Gilan in the chest. He screamed. Loud. Several birds shot out of the trees and soared away. A nearby traveler frowned and glanced towards the forest. Halt winced. "Stop teaching them how to whistle, Crowley."

Several of the Rangers seemed shocked, but Gilan came up groaning. Halt remained placid, knowing that he had used one of his capped arrows. "It hurts," Gilan whined.

"It should hurt."

"How could you? I made your coffee many times! I picked wildflowers for you, and I only got distracted a million times! I was the better apprentice and I-"

"Your fault."

"But Will-"

"Shut up."

Gilan promptly shut up. Halt grabbed the silent Ranger by his collar and dragged him away. Gilan struggled for a while, then gave up, wondering where Halt was taking him. "Keep shooting," he told the apprentices. The crowd dispersed, each Ranger getting back to their own activities.

Will and Crowley grinned at each other. "Ever heard Gil scream like that before?" Will asked. Crowley shook his head. "It was priceless."

Their grins faded when Halt turned around, stared directly at them and said, "You're next."

 **Thanks if you reviewed or followed. I still don't know what I'm doing, just writing whatever pops into my head.**


	3. What's the Name of this Chapter?

After Gilan's disaster, all was peaceful for Halt.

The peace lasted around six hours.

It was late in the afternoon by then, a fiery ball of doom known as the sun scorching the earth below relentlessly, as well as everything on it. The Rangers retreated to the shade, some moving their belongings out of the sunlight as well.

Will, who Gilan and Crowley had enthusiastically nominated as the next culprit, stared into the pot of coffee thoughtfully. The liquid bubbled and boiled inside, the rich smell making him relax. Gilan stood next to him, impatient. He grumbled again and Will sighed. "Does it hurt that badly?"

"Ask Halt," Gilan replied grumpily.

"I wouldn't," Halt said from the back of the tent. His disowned apprentices jumped. The graying Ranger ignored the movement and tapped his quiver. "I have quite a few arrows left." Halt wasn't interested in shooting the tall Ranger a second time unless the Ranger was going to do something stupid again. Gilan darted behind Will when he saw the cursed projectiles.

The younger watched the interaction, wondering how long Gilan's fear would last. He didn't plan on being defeated like Gilan had been. He would have to do something that wouldn't involve getting in contact with Halt. He stared back into the coffee, the gears in his brain turning.

…

 _2 hours later_

The tent was empty. It's owner had left earlier for a meeting with some of the senior Rangers. Will strode inside calmly, though his eyes were alert, searching for what he wanted to find.

There. The coffee package lay on the floor next to Halt's saddle bag, unclosed. Will emptied its contents into his own bag and filled it with semi-dry pebbles from the stream. He positioned the package the way it had been before and left the tent, a smile on his face.

 _That was easy enough._ Halt wouldn't know who had removed the coffee, but he could easily guess that it was Will or Crowley. Will would simply blame Crowley if it came to that.

He didn't realize that the meeting was close enough to Halt's tent that the Ranger could see it. Halt had seen Will enter and leave, unsure of what he had done, but sure that it wasn't a good thing. Halt shrugged. He'd deal with it later.

…

 _Later (1 hour)_

"WILL TREATY!" Halt roared from inside of his tent. The person in question stiffened and started to run towards the thicker parts of the forest, Halt following close behind.

Deeper and deeper they went. In the heart of the woods, the amount of sunlight that reached the forest floor was little. Will paused and looked around the dim clearing that he was in, taking off towards the path he could see best, still running away from Halt.

Hearing his pursuer approach, he scrambled blindly up the nearest tree, not daring to look behind him. The thick branches scraped him occasionally - he was being none too careful; he was just going as high as he could.

Which did nothing to stop Halt.

He eyed the frantic shape scurry up the tree, the direction of his bow following Will's path. Before long, four arrows, two capped and two uncapped were on their way.

The regular ones shook the branches that Will balanced himself on. The uncapped shot towards him. By instinct, he moved out of the way, also releasing his grip on the bark. Will tumbled down the tree and landed in the grass below on his back.

"Up," Halt said immediately. Will's head stayed rooted to the ground.

Halt grabbed his collar and dragged him away in the same manner as he had done to his older apprentice. _At least I don't have a huge audience,_ Will thought. Only Crowley and Gilan had come to see what would happen. They stood to the side quietly, hiding their smiles.

Will's head throbbed. He must have hit a branch when he was falling.

"Against the tree. The same tree." Will wondered if his fate would be the same as Gilan's. The older Ranger produced a thick rope and tied Will up expertly.

He pulled out a few objects out of his pocket. Halt held them up for Will to see. Small. Round. Gray. Shiny. Pebbles! One by one, the pebbles went hurtling towards their target.

"Have fun," Gilan called, remembering how Will had made fun of him for being caught by Halt. Watching Will suffer in the same way brought him satisfaction. He hastily shut his mouth as Halt glanced at him. If it were someone else torturing Will, the two spectators would have been innocently chatting a lot more.

After Halt was finally out of pebbles, he gave his previous apprentices and supposed best friend one last cold look before stalking off.

Crowley waited until he was sure Halt had left. "I'm really disappointed. I thought you were the smarter apprentice."

With nearly the same hostility as Halt would have mustered, Gilan and Will glowered at him, the latter doing exceptionally well for someone who was tied to a tree. "Well," they said simultaneously, "say that after you've gone."


	4. Author's Note

Hey guys...I know it's been a while. I've been somewhat busy over the summer, and I'm not sure what to write. But I haven't given up on this. The next chapter is 2/3 of the way done. I'll try to post it ASAP.


	5. I Sense Something Troublesome

It was easy to perceive that Halt was very ruthless with punishments - if you crossed him, you were in for it. Thus, when Will returned the next morning, stumbling as he walked and wiggling his arms to get the circulation back in them, Crowley was not surprised that Halt paid no attention.

A large amount of his dignity lost, the young Ranger did not utter a word until Halt sat up, stretched contentedly, and left to attend to his matters that day. Will quadruple-checked to make sure that his mentor had left, then turned and gave the two others an accusing glance. "You could've untied me after Halt left, you know."

Gilan rolled his eyes. "Risk our lives for you? How stupid do you think we are?"

"Very stupid, apparently."

"You fell off a tree!"

"I haven't forgotten that you have to go, Crowley," Will said, changing the topic quickly.

"Right. If I remember correctly, the essential objective is to annoy or embarrass Halt?"

His companions nodded. "You can't weasel your way out of it," Will told him with narrowed eyes. After being tied to a tree, his mood was rather foul.

Crowley smiled. "Oh, don't worry. I don't plan to."

Not for the first time, Halt was glad he was a sensitive sleeper. He woke to a soft rustling that came from the entrance of his tent. Pulling on his cloak, he cautiously stepped outside.

"Morning," he heard someone whisper. A certain Ranger leaned casually against the nearest tree, smirking.

"Crowley…" Halt growled. "What are you up to?"

The Commandant's mouth opened in mock surprise. "You're using your manners! Maybe you are learning something from the apprentices. Maybe I could arrange something for -"

He stopped when Halt grabbed him by the folds of his cloak. "Get. To. The. Point."

"Careful, Halt," Crowley said loudly so that all of the Rangers who were awake could hear him clearly. "What would Lady Pauline think of your brutality?" This earned him a chorus of laughs, which were quickly subdued.

"Careful, Crowley," Halt mimicked, seeing where this was going. "What would the Rangers think of your retirement from sustainable injuries?"

For a moment, he seemed to have won. Then his supposed friend wagged a finger. "But that would be considered an unjustified attack." He shot him a look that said You know perfectly well I wouldn't care. "Pauline wouldn't appreciate it," Crowley added quickly.

Halt played along. "Well, if you can't take it physically, I can think of a number of times you were in a rather embarrassing situation." Try that. "And," he continued when he realized Crowley might retaliate in the same way, "I'm sure they are a whole lot more amusing than anything you could come up with. So if you don't get out of my space now, I'll spill."

That was all it took. The redhead had gone uncharacteristically silent. When he found Halt's grip loosened, he turned around and started to walk away. A sudden tugging jerked him back, and, unfortunately for him, he turned in the wrong direction, allowing his cloak to come off. "You won't be needing this any time soon," Halt called after him.

"You ran away?" Gilan asked incredulously.

"Coward," Will put in, using a sing-song voice.

The third member of the group folded his arms. "I'm not a coward. I'm smart."

Since the three idiots had each gone once, Halt had assumed his older apprentice would come after him next. However, out of the group, Gilan seemed to be sulking, while Will and Crowley were having an enthusiastic conversation. Perhaps they were teaming up.

It seemed like the right time to take away an important item for a good number of possible pranks. The cloaks.

Crowley's cloak was already confisticated safely within his tent - the possibilities of sneaking in and escaping without being severely injured were slim, especially since Halt was going to keep a close eye on the area.

As for his apprentices...simple enough.

He slipped into their respective tents and, to seem less suspicious, put on the cloaks over his. One person had noticed. Crowley raised an eyebrow, and Halt raised one back. The message was clear: Shut your mouth if you want to live beyond this Gathering.

He spent the rest of the day setting traps around his tent as casually as he could.


	6. Yeah, No

**Hey guys.**

 **First of all, sorry it took so long! Please enjoy.**

...

The traps turned out useless - the troublemakers had made no visible attempts to invade his tent. Not that they had given up...that blasted look was still present in their eyes. If there was one thing that came close to irritating Halt as much as stealing his coffee, it was not knowing what was going to happen.

By no means did it mean that the scheming had stopped. In fact, in the midst of respite, Halt felt the need to be increasingly vigilant. After all, the longer they took, the worse they had in mind.

...

They had nothing in mind.

Crowley had suggested plundering their subject's tent. That had been their initial plan, but after one cursory examination of the intricate layout of traps, and after realizing their cloaks had vanished, anything physically centered had been ruled out.

The threesome had protested during lunch the day after Crowley's failure, pointing out that the cloaks were essential for their daily tasks. Rangers had never been so ignored.

...

" _You're the Commandant; why can't you force him to hand them over?" Will demanded. Maybe working with Gilan would be more successful…_

 _The redhead only shrugged. "It's the same concept as Halt trying to make you shut up." Gilan smirked and nudged Will, who made an obscene gesture, shoving him away._

 _If they couldn't get the cloaks back, what were they to do?_

...

Of course, Gilan, sulky because he had been left out, was of no help (not that he wanted to help the traitors).

At last, the Commandant proposed an idea. It was one he had been pondering overnight, unsure if the weight of the punishment that was sure to ensue was worth the hilarious expression that would find itself on Halt's face. "Will, do you remember that time you sang Greybeard Halt?"

It was supper time, and the two of them were sitting behind Crowley's oversized tent, quietly eating their meal. The young Ranger glanced at him and shuddered. "Don't even think about it. The last time I did that, Halt tied me to a tree and left me there the entire night!"

"I've heard...but isn't it worth it?"

Will hesitated for only a moment. "Trust me, it's not." He turned back to his meal and found that a leaf had fallen on the bread, further reminding him of the horrors of that night. Even if it meant giving up, he would _not_ sing Greybeard Halt.

...

Early the next morning, Will brought out his mandola ( _not a lute!),_ careful not to make a sound. Crowley nodded at him and counted with his fingers: 3, 2, 1...

...

Greybeard Halt is a friend of mine

He lives on Redmont's hill

Greybeard Halt never took a bath

And they say He never will

Fare thee well, Greybeard Halt

Fare thee well, I say

Fare thee well, Greybeard Halt

I'll see you on your way

...

The chords came out clear and strong, their voices abruptly shattering the silence of the morning. Immediately a bunch had gathered, though there was no sign of Halt. The Rangers who were listening were laughing silently, too afraid of Halt's wrath to actually make a sound.

...

Greybeard Halt, he lost a bet

He lost his winter coat

When winter comes, Halt stays warm

By sleeping 'mongst the goats

Fare thee well, Greybeard Halt

Fare thee well I say

Fare thee well, Greybeard Halt

I'll see you on your way

...

Will, who had been nervous at first, felt more at ease after the first few lines. Crowley was confident with his singing, oblivious to the level of retribution Halt would carry out. At least that retribution would be shared.

He had agreed because he had realized that, whether he took part or not, Halt would partially blame him for creating the song.

...

Greybeard Ha-and it was over.

In the blink of an eye, a green and gray blur streaked behind him. Will found himself twisted around to face Halt and lifted off the ground by one hand, a vise grip around his neck.

Halt stared at Crowley for a long time, then at Will, still held by the neck. He tossed disgraceful his former apprentice on the grass in front of him.

"You. You. Tree. Now."

...

It was cold. Very, very, cold, Will thought.

...

It was dark. Very, very, dark, Crowley thought.

 **...**

 **Nobody knows**

 **what**

 **Will**

 **happen**

 **next**

 **time**


End file.
